1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to nozzles and, more specifically, to a rotary joint assembly for use in an irrigator, such as in the wine industry, for spreading clear wine taken from the middle of a fermenting must over the cap. The cap is formed during fermentation when skins of the grapes separate from the juice and seeds. The seeds fall to the bottom, the juice stays in the middle and the skins rise to the surface. The skins contain valuable color and flavor qualities. The cap layer becomes dry without moisture being passed thereover and without an irrigator spreading wine over the cap, the wine is deprived of important color, flavor, and minerals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional rotary joints are produced with a single row of ball bearings that requires the rotary joint to have balanced divergent arms with the rotary joint in the center. In order for the prior art rotary joint to provide the necessary coverage, the arms must have a length substantially equal to a radius of the tank.
A known method of irrigating the cap layer of the must is depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows a prior art mechanism for irrigating the cap layer of a must. This figure shows a tank 16 having a wine must therein. A cap layer 20 is positioned atop the wine must layer 22. In order to irrigate the cap layer 20, the tank 16 has a wide opening 18. This wide opening 18 is necessary to allow an irrigator having a first arm 13 and a second arm 15 to extend therethrough and into the tank 16. The first arm 13 and second arm 15 are connected to a supply line 17 by a single ball bearing rotary joint 11. The first arm 13 and second arm 15 are required when using the single ball bearing rotary joint 11 for balance to be created thereby allowing for proper irrigation.
An enlarged view of single row of ball bearings 24 taken from within the circle labeled 2 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2. The wine in the tank 16 is irrigated by wine 22 passing through the supply line 17 and flowing through the single ball bearing rotary joint 11. Upon passing through the single ball bearing rotary joint 11, the flow of wine 12 is divided between the first irrigating arm 13 and the second irrigating arm 15. The wine 12 passing through the first and second irrigating arms is dispersed atop the cap layer 20.
Numerous are other rotary joint device designed for dispersing liquids. Typical of these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 616,032; 912,493; 1,447,305; 2,836,439; 3,478,669; 3,823,655; 3,871,272; 4,296,952; 4,711,785; 4,817,955; 4,969,391; and 5,165,734.
While these nozzles may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.                U.S. Pat. No. 616,032        Inventor: Frank Struhs        Issued: Dec. 13, 1898        
Shown is a lawn sprinkler coupled to a support, the coupling having an upper enlarged end with an annular recess within the same, a nozzle provided with a projecting flange seated within the recess and having an upwardely-projecting annular nozzle and engaging the coupling, a washer located within the cap and having a recess which receives the ridge on the flange of the nozzle, and a bent nipple forming the terminal portion of the nozzle and adjustable with respect to the other part thereof, substantially as shown and described.                U.S. Pat. No. 912,493        Inventor: Russell C. Sanders        Issued: Feb. 16, 1909        
Shown is a lawn sprinkler having a right angled body with horizontal and vertical branches, the vertical branch being provided with radiating nipples having threaded sockets, curved legs screwed into said sockets, cross bars uniting said legs, runners uniting said cross bars and formed with upturned ends, an upright bearing bracket upon the cross bar at the upturned end of said runners, a hose pipe arranged in said bearing bracket and connected to the horizontal branch of the body, a stationary head upon the vertical branch of said body, a rotary head in said stationary head and a curved discharge pipe or nozzle carried by said rotary head, substantially as set forth.                U.S. Pat. No. 1,447,305        Inventor: Joseph Hauk        Issued: Mar. 6, 1923        
The invention as shown in a dish-washing machine, the combination of a receptacle, a dish carrying basket mounted therein, a nozzle directing washing fluid upon the dishes in said basket, a discharge spout at the bottom of the receptacle, a support, a pair of fluid supply tanks mounted on said support and movable so that one or the other may be disposed below the spout, a motor-driven pump mounted on the machine, piping connecting said pump with said tanks, a valve in said piping controlling the flow of fluid from either one of said tanks to said pump, and piping from said pump to said nozzle to conduct the fluid under pressure to the same.                U.S. Pat. No. 2,836,439        Inventor: Frank M. Moore        Issued: May 27, 1958        
Disclosed is a revolving joint having a housing having a chamber therein and an opening into the chamber; a first carbon bearing adjacent the opening and a second carbon bearing fixed in the chamber and spaced from the first bearing; a sleeve extending through the opening and into the chamber and rotatably carried in said bearings; a collar sealingly engaging the outer surface of the sleeve intermediate said bearings and having a first sealing surface lying in a plane normal to the axis of the sleeve; means formed in the housing defining an annular segmentally spherical second sealing surface surrounding said sleeve intermediate said bearings and facing the collar; an annular sealing ring disposed between and engaging the sealing surfaces; the portions of the ring engaging each of said sealing surfaces being complementary thereto; a spring surrounding the sleeve and bearing at one end against the second bearing and at its other end against the collar to urge said sealing surfaces into sealing engagement with the ring, the contacting surfaces of the ring and the sealing surfaces being smooth and free of discontinuities to permit both rotational and pivotal movement of the sleeve relative to the housing without disengaging the contacting surfaces from said sealing surfaces, said housing having an annular chamber portion therein surrounding the spring, collar and ring, with the ring having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the sleeve and having an outer diameter less than the diameter of said annular chamber portion.                U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,669        Inventor: Jacques P. H. Lanes        Issued: Nov. 18, 1969        
The invention discloses an apparatus for the fermentation of crushed grapes comprising a vertically positioned fermentation tank, having a top portion, closed body and a cylindrical portion intermediate said top and bottom, a conduit for introducing crushed grapes into the lower portion of said tank, means for washing the cap formed at the top portion of said tank thereby extracting wine soluble constituents thereof to enhance the quality of said wine, first conduit means in the cylindrical portion of said tank for withdrawing wine therefrom, said conduit means including a recycle conduit in communication with the upper portion of said tank and injector means adaptable to be vertically reciprocated within the upper portion of said tank at a predetermined level in said cap formed therein.                U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,655        Inventor: Ronald A. Potter        Issued: Jul. 16, 1974        
The invention discloses an apparatus adapted for use in wine making, and functioning at least partly in the process of making red and white wines, and comprising a vessel including at least a sidewall, a downwardly convergent floor having an opening permitting the removal of the residual grape skins, a door normally closing the opening, means permitting the insertion of raw materials and at least one means permitting the removal of the processed grape juice.                U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,272        Inventor: Rino Melandri        Issued: Mar. 18, 1975        
The invention discloses a wine making process comprising the maceration stage taking place at an intensive rate, due to the continuous and violent recycling of the must over the pressed grape dregs. The plant for carrying out the process comprises a vat; a torque flow pump connected by means of a pipe provided with a valve, to the base of the vat; a sprayer with the differentiated arms, rotating by reaction, situated in the top part of the vat and connected to the pump outlet.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,952        Inventor: Donald G. McCracken        Issued: Oct. 27, 1981        
A rotary joint utilizing a single anti-friction bearing interposed between the static and dynamic components wherein a self-aligning or floating seal is utilized to maintain effective sealing in the event of misalignment. The rotary joint includes a bearing supported sleeve to which a conduit adapter may be affixed in such a manner to mount and locate the bearing on the sleeve, and the components are economically manufactured wherein a dependable and efficient rotary joint may be produced at low cost.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,785        Inventor: Guy Bruch        Issued: Dec. 8, 1987        
A vinification process for the manufacture of wine or wine products in a vat. A must comprising a liquid phase and solid component forming the main part of a hat coming to the upper level of the liquid phase is introduced into the vat. At least a portion of liquid phase during the fermentation is extracted. The liquid phase is thermally treated by exchanging selectively thermal energy with respect to the extracted liquid. After thermal treatment, the thermal treated liquid phase is reinserted at a selected point with respect to the liquid phase level of the vat. The temperature of the liquid phase is measured at selected points in said vat. The thermal exchange with the extracted liquid phase is controlled over a period of time as a function of the measured temperatures to create a desired temperature gradient of the liquid phase in the vat and a desired temperature evolution as, a function of time, whereby a wine of desired quality is produced.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,995        Inventor: Louis H. Deubler et al.        Issued: Apr. 4, 1989        
A rotating union including a seal assembly having a rotating seal member removably mounted in the rotor, a non-rotating floating seal member mounted in the housing of the union and keyed thereto to prevent rotation within the housing, and a bias assembly maintaining seal surfaces of the two seal members in engagement. In one embodiment, the combination of materials for the seal members provides a silicon carbide to carbon graphite seal.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,391        Inventor: Olivier Haulot        Issued: Nov. 13, 1990Wine-making vat comprising a lower fermentation vat (1) and an upper tun (2) and at least one valve (20) putting the fermentation vat (1) and the tun (2) in communication automatically and cyclically, and also comprising a fixed unit fitted on a washing port (4) and forming a valve seat, a movable assembly moving vertically and interacting with valve seat, a movable float, a seal between the movable assembly and the movable float, and an arrangement for retaining the movable assembly on the valve seat.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,734        Inventor: Walter W. Smith        Issued: Nov. 24, 1992        
The conduit swivel connector consists of a first conduit, adapted to be connected for example to a filler hose, and terminating in a bell-like housing within which resides a nipple with ball bearing rotation permitted between the two. Thus a pair of aligned conduits are provided with relative 360 degree rotation between the nipple and the housing. Leakage of fluid being transmitted through the connector is prevented by a series of sealing faces, one being located on a annular sealing member retained in the housing, which cooperates with a corresponding sealing face on an intermediate floating seal ring. The opposite side of the seal ring is provided also with a sealing face that engages in sealing sliding engagement with an annular face on the end of the nipple. The sealing faces are carefully lapped so that leakage is substantially prevented from the interior of the conduits.